Many developmental and pilot-scale production models of electric automobiles and trucks have as their basis some standard production model of a normally I.C. engine vehicle, minus its I.C. engine and certain other components. Onto that basis is grafted the electric motor, the electric storage battery compartment, charging fittings and other components of an electric vehicle.
As used here, the "front end" of the automobile designates that part of the body/frame provided at the front of the vehicle front wheels and front engine or storage compartment, and which bears the headlights, front bumper and the like. "Automobile" as used herein is intended to be generic to cars, trucks, buses and the like.
Many of the electric vehicles of the kind referred to above simply adopt and make-do with the front ends of the production model of the normally I.C. engine vehicle on which they are based. Such a practice has several drawbacks. The adopted structure may have poor aerodynamic qualities because of its original purpose to incorporate an air intake grille for an I.C. engine, particularly a liquid-cooled one. The adopted structure may have been designed when gasoline was cheap and the designers had no overwhelming mandate to consider aerodynamic qualities favoring energy efficiency. And electric vehicles have their own ways of being made more efficient and more convenient, ways that are missed when a conventional automotive front end is merely carried forward. For instance, because it is necessary to recharge the batteries of a regularly used electric vehicle fairly frequently, e.g. quickly at a station or overnight charging station comparable to a gasoline filling each night or several times a week, it is advantageous to provide conveniently located charging terminals on the vehicle for connecting the batteries with a generator or other charger.
It is known that an automobile front end may be made more streamlined if doors or lids are provided for the headlights, or the headlights are rotated around to present a streamlined surface forwards when not in use. Several problems are associated with various designs of such headlight provisions. Many present a streamlined configuration forwards only when the headlights are not in use; typical of this is the "frog eyes"-type rotating headlights which provide considerable wind resistance when in use. Some light doors, lids and rotating mounts work poorly in icy weather, sticking closed or partly closed making the vehicle impossible or less safe to operate and just at a time when safe operation of the vehicle is a more dicey proposition.